1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a folding camera and more particularly to such a camera having a plurality of housings which are driven from a collapsed position to an erected position and back to a collapsed position during an exposure cycle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One of the more desirable features of a camera is its compactness, and thus a large number of today's cameras are of the folding or collapsible type. However, once such a camera is erected in preparation for the taking of a series of photographic exposures, the issue of compactness is again raised. What does one do with the relatively large erected camera between exposures? Should the photographer momentarily put it aside until he has had time to reposition the subject for the next exposure? Should the photographer continue to hold the erected camera during such repositioning of the subject, thus subjecting the lens to possible inadvertent contact by the photographer's finger(s)? It might be argued that this problem could be obviated by collapsing the camera after every exposure but then that solution would hardly be embraced by the casual photographer. Further, what of the tourist who wants to take one more exposure as the last of a group of such tourists is scurrying to board their tour bus? Will such a tourist have time to erect the camera, take the exposure, and then collapse the camera before the bus starts to pull away; or will he forgo collapsing the camera in order to board such bus thereby subjecting components of the erected camera, e.g., the lens and/or bellows, to damage during any jostling while boarding the bus? One practical solution is to provide such a camera which assumes the erected position only during a photographic exposure, and at the completion of such exposure automatically returns to its compact collapsed condition.
The prior art fails to address the foregoing problem, if in fact it was even appreciated. U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,521 describes an instant or self-developing camera of the collapsible type in which the camera is erected prior to an exposure, the exposure taken, and then the camera is collapsed. Collapsing of the camera is effective to drive the exposed film unit through a processing liquid spreading means and then to the exterior of the camera. However, the photographer must still actuate a button to release the camera's shutter and lens housing for movement to its erect operative position, press another button to initiate an exposure, and subsequent to exposure, manually move said housing back into its collapsed position.